RealNetworks Sues Burst, Seeking Judgment Saying It Doesn't Infringe

from the pre-empting-a-marshall-texas-lawsuit dept

Thu, Jan 10th 2008 2:02pm — Mike Masnick

We've covered the history of Burst.com and its questionable patents before. While the company was recently able to squeeze $10 million out of Apple, following the $60 million it got from Microsoft, speculation had begun on who the next target would be. In fact, apparently a Burst investor had started posting videos to YouTube trying to show how a variety of companies all infringed on Burst's patents. Of course, if we had a sane patent system, most people would look at this to suggest that the concepts in Burst's patents were fairly obvious and never should have received patent protection in the first place -- but that's not how things work these days. Among the companies listed in the videos were Google, AOL, Adobe and RealNetworks. Apparently, that was enough to worry RealNetworks, who has filed for a declaratory judgment in Northern California claiming that it does not infringe on Burst's patents. This was, by the way, the same strategy that Apple took (suing first) almost exactly two years ago. With so much fear of cases getting forced into Marshall, Texas, it's no surprise that those threatened would try to file for declaratory judgments on friendlier grounds. It will be interesting to see if Google, AOL or Adobe follow suit.

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Filed Under: declaratory judgment, patents, video streaming
Companies: burst, realnetworks

16 Comments

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4-80-sicks, 10 Jan 2008 @ 2:30pm

They sure know what they're doing. I hope any judge involved with this cases will be informed and wonder aloud how a nothing company anybody's ever heard of could come up with so many ideas that get stolen by such technology companies/innovation hotbeds as Google, Apple, Adobe, etc....
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Anonymous Coward, 10 Jan 2008 @ 3:15pm

Burst.com is a dying and failing company that's trying to survive by suing other company. It has nothing to lose even if it lose. I hope Google shuts it down and never let it appear in its search engine. LOL
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Staten Island Real Estate, 10 Jan 2008 @ 3:57pm

Finally someone's going to burst their bubble...
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Overcast, 10 Jan 2008 @ 5:01pm

One lying company suing another, lol
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confused, 10 Jan 2008 @ 6:30pm

Patent #6,925,469
Looks like a bunch of jibberish, no wonder they got a patent on it.
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angry dude, 10 Jan 2008 @ 9:56pm

techdirt imbeciles
Yeah, right

each and very patented idea is obvious in Mike's humble opinion

yeha, he is fucking genious with some bs degree in PR or whatever bullshit they teach nowdays
Fucking waste of educational facilities

Mikey , do you even know what FFT stands for ?

How bout HHT ?

Well, that's a tough one, I admit

Good night clueless incest victims
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4-80-sicks, 10 Jan 2008 @ 10:09pm

why do you read this site if you hate it so much i do not understand
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JustMatt, 11 Jan 2008 @ 5:18am

Re: A.D.
I assume he isn't so much 'angry' as horrifically depressed at his lot in life, so he therefore attempts to belittle other people in order to feel some measure of control and/or superiority. He professes to be knowledgeable on a wide variety of subjects but he never provides explanation for his positions, preferring instead ad-hominem attacks. I know he is a troll. I suspect he is a sock puppet for Dorpus.

Try to turn that frown upside down and have a nice day Angry Dude, smooches!
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Chronno S. Trigger, 11 Jan 2008 @ 10:10am

Re: techdirt imbeciles
Fast Fourier transform? Where douse that apply? Why do you think that anyone would want to know what that is to say that this patent (6,282,276) is blatantly obvious? Why would you even need to know that there's an equation that douse that? Seems kinda obvious to me how to track a phone bill.

How about you look up the patent you're trying to defend before you say something. In case you're also Lazy Dude as well as Angry, let me sum it up for you. You call a "Value added service" AKA tech support, and a person/machine keeps track of how much you are charged, your payment information, and sends that information to the value added service. Sounds like something I do every day. Seems kinda obvious to me. Hell, I didn't even know I was doing it.
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Anonymous Coward, 11 Jan 2008 @ 10:24am

Fast Fourier Transform, Final Fantasy Tactics, Full Frame Transfer, Final Form Text, Full Functional Test, File Format Table...Hand-Held Terminal, Hand Held Technology, Hand Held Tachometer, Hydrogen Hybrid Technologies, Hypothetical Hierarchical Tree, Heinrich Hertz Telescope...all irrelevant. Food For Thought.
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angry dude, 11 Jan 2008 @ 10:24am

Re: Re: techdirt imbeciles
Hey bro

as far as I remember Burst.com patents are all about streaming and they were very early

I have a shitload of work to do right now
Do your own homework punk
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angry dude, 11 Jan 2008 @ 10:26am

Re:
Hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia ...

this ones applies to you (just kidding)
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Chronno S. Trigger, 11 Jan 2008 @ 10:43am

Re: Re: Re: techdirt imbeciles
"I have a shitload of work to do right now
Do your own homework punk"

Then quit commenting on something that you haven't researched. Oh, and I did do the homework. How about you pay attention.

For the record there is no mention of streaming in the patent.
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angry dude, 11 Jan 2008 @ 11:05am

Re: Re: Re: Re: techdirt imbeciles
http://www.google.com/patents?q=Richard+A.+Lang&btnG=Search+Patents

you, sir, are positively a victim of an early abortion

Untreatable condition unfortunately
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Anonymous Coward, 11 Jan 2008 @ 9:29pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: techdirt imbeciles
luckily survivable...
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Staten Island Real Estate News, 19 May 2008 @ 5:19pm

They have a point
There are no shortage of hacks steeling everything they can put their hands on. If you catch it sue em...Period.
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